So to continue...
Spring Onions... As I said in the part 1 we love our onions.
As well as the normal onions I also have a small bed of multiplying onions - like a spring onion but a bit smaller. I originally planted a few bunches of two or three onions and they soon turned into huge bunches of tall tasty onions which are ideal in stews and soups. They have a totally different taste to normal onions. I dig up a portion of a bunch when required by driving a spade through the bunch and replacing some soil to fill the void!! When the whole bunch has been used I replant a small bunch of 2-5 and in not time they will be ready for eating as well. This way one only needs a square meter or so in the garden for theses. They over-winter without any problem and jump back into growing mode i

The silly leek competition has began on the first of January and after just 24 hours the seeds are on their way. I put the Mammoth leek seeds between wet kitchen tissue paper and place them in a small plastic container, and put that about 5 inches above the radiator.
I don't have any fancy heated propagator and lights so this is the method I use often to germinate chillies and tomatoes quickly too. Except that I don't sprout them on paper but plant them straight into the compost, but they all go on the top of the radiator.
I used tweezers to pick the largest seeds out (the fact that the sprouts are visible allowed me to do a selection at this early stage) and planted them into a mix of ordinary potting on and seed sowing compost, into small cells. Only one sprouting seed per cell

The Leek [ Allium ampeloprasum var: porrum ], is one of our hardiest and most versatile vegetables. A member of the onion family it closely related to elephant garlic. The leek is a good vegetable for cooler climates like ours, is easy to grow and can fill the harvest gap when there is little else in the garden. By choosing the right varieties, and sowing from February to August, leeks can be harvested for most of the year. They will stand in the ground through the worst of the winter weather. Leeks are a biennial and will produce seedheads in their second year. They can also produce baby leeks on the seedhead called grass or pips. These can be overwintered undercover and planted the following spring. The grass or pips are what exhibition leek grower use to grow their show leeks. Somet

Sowing the leek seeds:
The seeds can be sown inside in the winter if you want crops in the autumn, however it is most common to sow in early spring indoors or later on directly outside. Sow the seed in a seed tray or in seed cells about 1cm deep in fine seed compost, it will help to separate the seedlings later on without damaging the fine roots. Outdoor sowings can be done in a well prepared seedbed if you wish to transplant the plants or directly to their permanent position. If you sow the seeds directly it will take the hassle out of transplanting the fragile seedlings later on, which is preferred by many gardeners. Germination can take 2-3 weeks. After the seedlings appear start thinning them out, leaving about 5cm between the plants. Later on, if sown in a permanent bed, thin the p